Southwest Asia

Description

This map of Southwest Asia dating from about 1866 shows the possessions of the European powers in this region. The map extends from Libya, Egypt, and Sudan in the west to Mongolia, China (Tibet), and Burma in the east. Colored lines are used to indicate territories controlled by Britain, France, Portugal, and the Ottoman Empire and to delineate what the map calls the kingdom of the imam of Oman. The names of provincial capitals are underlined. British territories in India are divided into six parts: Bengal, the Northwest Provinces, Panjab, the Central Provinces, Madras, and Bombay. The map was issued by the Geographical Institute of Weimar, an important German publisher of maps, globes, and statistical yearbooks that was founded in 1804 and that became known for the high quality of its products. Among the German geographers and cartographers associated with the institute were Adam Christian Gaspari, Carl Ferdinand Weiland, and Heinrich Kiepert.